city on the Ohio River in Ohio, U.S., founded 1789 and first called Losantiville, name changed 1790 by territorial Gov. Arthur St. Clair, in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal veterans' organization founded 1783 by former Revolutionary War officers (St. Clair was a member) and named for Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, 5c. B.C.E. Roman hero who saved the city from crisis and then retired to his farm rather than rule. His name is a cognomen in the gens Quinctia, literally "with curly hair," from Latin cincinnus "curl, curly hair." Related: Cincinnatian.